Early Review – Gravemaidens (Gravemaidens, Book 1) by Kelly Coon (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: October 29, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-0525647829
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Gravemaidens Duology
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“In the walled city-state of Alu, Kammani wants nothing more than to become the accomplished healer her father used to be before her family was cast out of their privileged life in shame.

When Alu’s ruler falls deathly ill, Kammani’s beautiful little sister, Nanaea, is chosen as one of three sacred maidens to join him in the afterlife. It’s an honor. A tradition. And Nanaea believes it is her chance to live an even grander life than the one that was stolen from her.

But Kammani sees the selection for what it really is—a death sentence.

Desperate to save her sister, Kammani schemes her way into the palace to heal the ruler. There she discovers more danger lurking in the sand-stone corridors than she could have ever imagined and that her own life—and heart—are at stake. But Kammani will stop at nothing to dig up the palace’s buried secrets even if it means sacrificing everything…including herself. ”

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. Thanks to NetGalley and Delcorte Press for providing a copy to review. This is the first novel in the Gravemaidens duology. This was a well done YA fantasy novel. It was a bit slow but was well written.

This story is about a young woman, Kammani, who is training to be a healer. Kammani’s sister is chosen to be sacrificed with the king when he dies. As a result Kammani makes it her priority to try and heal the king in order to prevent her sister’s death.

This novel moved a bit slow, but had excellent world-building and engaging characters. I liked that the main heroine really valued herself as a healer and made sure that others saw her value as well. The setting is Middle Eastern and was intriguing.

The book ends up being more about intrigue and deceit and didn’t have much action. It’s promoted as being really dark and edgy…and it really isn’t. All in all this is a well done, but fairly typical, YA fantasy book.

The story ties up nicely (although this is supposed to be a duology). I am unsure right now if I will continue this series or not; I liked it but I didn’t love it.

Overall this is a solid fantasy story about political intrigue in a Middle Eastern setting. The pacing was a bit slow for me but the world-building was well done and the characters were engaging. I would recommend to those who enjoy YA fantasy in a middle eastern setting and like a lot of intrigue in their story.